Maps show risk to marine life from seismic testing for offshore oil

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Marcel Holyoak / Creative Commons

Forty-five miles from Cape Hatteras, the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream converge, creating a diverse environment where sea turtles, myriad types of fish, and an array of other marine life such as whales and dolphins thrive.

In any given August, as many as 1,000 bottlenose dolphins alone dwell in this area of the Atlantic Ocean, according to animated maps released today by the advocacy group Oceana.

Using 23 years of data compiled by Duke University researchers to show marine mammal density in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the maps are the latest effort by conservationists to convince the Obama administration to reject permits for seismic testing, a precursor to drilling.

Double threat to marine life

This screen capture from an animated map by Oceana shows dolphin movement relative to a proposed area for seismic testing off the Carolina coast.

When the U.S. Department of Interior agreed to withdraw plans for oil and gas rigs from Virginia to Georgia for five years, it eliminated the threat of oil spills to marine life

But advocates say seismic testing – for which the administration is now weighing eight permit applications – poses risks of its own.

Last year, 75 marine scientists wrote the Obama administration to express “concern over the introduction of seismic oil and gas exploration” in the Atlantic, saying it was “likely to have significant, long-lasting, and widespread impacts on the reproduction and survival of fish and marine mammal populations in region.”

State legislators, members of Congress, and coastal mayors have also spoken out against seismic testing in recent months.

The animated maps released today overlay the current seismic blasting permit application area with the density of endangered fin, humpback and sperm whales along with bottlenose dolphins over the course of a year.

“Hearing that whales and dolphins could be injured is one thing, but seeing the scale of the threat is another,” said Claire Douglass, campaign director at Oceana. “President Obama should stop seismic airgun blasting and protect our coast.”

“We know communities all up and down the East Coast opposed drilling and seismic exploration to protect their economies, their communities, and their way of life,” said Sierra Weaver, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “If there was a reason not to drill now, that reason is going stand over the long term.”

‘The argument is only going to get stronger’

Last winter, nearly 700 people poured into the Kill Devil Hills Ramada hotel to weigh in on the Obama administration’s plan to open the southern Atlantic Ocean to offshore drilling.

“We get it,” said Monica Thibodeau, the Mayor Pro Tem of tiny Duck, just north of Kill Devil Hills, who was among the throng that day. “In our backyard, environment is paramount to our economy. All walks of life can see clearly that this is a huge threat.”

Arguments like Thibodeau’s appeared to make a difference.

“We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told the New York Times this March. “When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn’t make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years.”

Environmental advocates and coastal community leaders say despite the suggestion in Jewell’s remarks, the rationale for protecting the Atlantic Coast won’t go away in another five years.

“If anything,” said Thibodeau, who also owns a vacation realty business, “the argument is only going to get stronger.”

Matt Walker, co-chair of the Outer Banks chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, which organized area businesses to speak out against drilling, said allowing oil and gas development would equate to interfering with tourism, or “messing with the golden goose.”

In Dare County, encompassing most of the Outer Banks, a third of residents work in the tourism industry, which the North Carolina Department of Commerce says generated nearly $1 billion in revenue 2013.

“Why put an existing industry at risk?” Walker asked. “That’s like turning the faucet off for us.”

3 thoughts on “Maps show risk to marine life from seismic testing for offshore oil”

It’s about time somebody covered this important issue. We need to protect the whales; we need to prevent offshore drilling; and to prevent cataclysmic climate change we need to keep the vast majority of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground.

I agree we should not allow seismic testing for oil in the ocean because it is a threat to those making it their home and they need our help. I am opposed to this and anything that disrupts their peaceful world. We must fight against this being allowed to happen. If their ability to “hear” is damaged, so are they. We are not going to be using fossil fuels as much in the future, so please leave them alone and save the fish and all other species who make the oceans of the world their home.